Vault
by bholley
Summary: Anna's on the Olympic refugee team after a war destroyed her home, Arendal. She's a pole vaulter and escaped the mass murder of her people by vaulting over the barricades. She felt immense survivor's guilt and in an attempt to absolve her guilt she vowed to win the gold medal to bring honor to her people. Mild/Platonic Elsanna, unrelated. PoleVaulter!Anna. Doctor!Elsa. Olympic!AU.


Anna wiped her sweating hands on her shirt. The qualifications had been brutal. She set the bar slightly higher than ever before and made it on her third try. The height had been enough to send her to the finals, but the sight of her competition had her sweating hard. She watched two others go before her and was amazed at their ambition. _I have to medal. I have to do this for them_ , she told herself before requesting that the bar be set just slightly over the highest jump so far. She surprised herself by how close she got on her first try. _Just a little more this time. I'll win it all for you, Mama, Papa, family, friends. Arendal._

Anna flew down the track, her feet a whirl as she readied the pole. It slammed into the backstop and she leaned in, pressing hard to ready the energy to spring her skyward. She lifted her feet off of the ground and swung them up as the pole began to unbend. She was nearing the bar – could see it through her legs – when the sickening crack issued from below. Before she could even think, Anna found herself flailing in freefall. She twisted around in the air like a cat, or tried to anyway, surrounded by the fiberglass shards of her vaulting pole.

The next thing Anna knew was pain. Her right side felt like it was on fire and her head throbbed. Still stunned, she was unable to resist as strong but gentle arms gingerly moved her onto her back and strapped her to a backboard. It wasn't until they moved her right leg that the pain cut through her daze. She cried out in helpless agony as she was secured and carried into the training room.

Anna felt herself come to a stop and heard footsteps recede. Through tear-blurred eyes, Anna looked up and gasped quietly. _An angel…_ she thought dazedly through the pain in her head. There was a sound – the angel was talking to her! Anna tried to rein in her faculties to make sense of what the beautiful woman was saying, but she felt so dizzy. Nothing made sense and she felt her eyes begin to fall closed. A cold hand patted her cheek gently and her eyes shot open again, slightly more focused. _She's real… she's not a vision…_ _she's TOUCHING me…_

"Can you hear me?" the voice drifted through Anna's ears and finally registered in her concussed mind. She gave an undignified whimper in response and blushed hard, wincing at the raging pain in her head and body.

"Hey, it's all right," the vision before her said soothingly. "Try not to move, okay? I'm doctor Elsa Larsen. Can you feel my hand?" And then there was a cold hand holding Anna's and she almost passed out again. _She's holding my hand! Oh god…_

"Can you move your fingers, Anna?" The injured woman forced her fingers to clasp around Elsa's as she marveled at the way her name sounded on the doctor's lips.

"Good!" Elsa exclaimed, and Anna felt her face curl into a dopey smile at the praise, though it fell when Elsa's hand left hers. Then the white-coated woman was standing at the end of the bed – almost too far for Anna to see her. She felt movement at her feet and cringed as pain surged in her right leg.

"Sorry, I know that hurts," the blonde apologized. "Can you feel me pressing your toes?" Anna felt a muted pinching through the track shoe on her left foot. "If you can, move your foot for me." _There's not much I wouldn't do for you right now_ , Anna mused dazedly and did her best to obediently wiggle her foot. The enthusiasm of the doctor made Anna smile once more as Elsa made known her relief.

"You're not paralyzed," she informed the injured athlete, "but I need to run some scans to make sure everything is okay. It's not going to hurt, I promise. Just hold still." Reassured, Anna relaxed as she was rolled away on the cart. Without Elsa's direct attention, Anna lapsed back into a daze. The stadium was equipped with CT scanners and x-ray equipment and Anna was put through them while semiconscious. She lay still strapped against the board while Elsa read the scans.

"Stay awake, all right?" Elsa requested, and Anna dutifully opened her eyes. Those cold hands were soon releasing the bindings on her head, neck, and shoulders.

"Your back is just fine," Elsa said, undoing the strap over Anna's waist, "but your right leg is in rough shape."

"H-how bad?" Anna whispered, feeling fear flood her heart.

"It's broken in several places and your ankle is shattered. You'll need surgery to repair it all – it's scheduled to begin in a few hours."

"Am… am I ever going to be able to walk again?" Anna whimpered, terrified.

"You should be," Elsa reassured her. "It will take a while to heal, but you'll be back on your feet eventually. I'm sorry, Anna, but with all this damage your jumping days are over."

Anna recoiled as if struck. Tears immediately flooded her eyes.

"This… vaulting… is all I have left," she sniffled. "That… please tell me it's not true!"

"I really wish I could, but there will be so much scar tissue after you heal that any additional damage due to hard impacts will be irreparable. If you hurt it again, you would not be able to walk." Anna stared at her in disbelief, tears running down her face.

"No…" she gasped, her breathing speeding up. "No!" she cried out, repeating it over and over, screaming into her hands. She angrily slammed a fist to the side but cried out when it jostled her injured leg. When she finally went limp, her energy spent and her body aching, she noticed the pressure of chilly fingers in her hair. Anna opened her eyes to find Elsa standing over her, soothingly stroking her head.

"It's going to be okay," she reassured Anna, but the girl shook her head weakly.

"No it won't," she said miserably. "I… my family is dead! My friends are dead! I don't have anybody! I wanted to honor them… apologize… win a medal to prove I was worth it. Why did _I_ survive instead of them? Why couldn't one of them have jumped over and escaped instead of me?"

Elsa gasped. This was the girl she'd read about. The athlete who escaped the burning compound by pole vaulting over the wall. She'd found sanctuary in a neighboring country and joined the refugee team for the Olympics. Elsa felt her heart ache.

"Anna," she murmured to the sobbing girl, "it's not your fault." She received no response so she lowered the railing and sat down on the bed beside Anna.

"I promise it's not. I'm originally from Arendal, too." Anna looked up in amazement as Elsa continued. "I left to do my medical training in Germany a year before the war began. It's not your fault the invasion came. It's not your fault you couldn't save anyone. I couldn't save anyone either. They killed my family, too." Speechless, Anna's face softened as she listened.

"Just by surviving, you have represented and upheld our people. By coming to the Olympics at all, you put our name on the world stage. You don't have to win a medal to be worthy of living, Anna. As an Arendalian and as a person, I am so proud of you." Anna saw the doctor's eyes misting up and her own floodgates opened once again. She reached shaking arms upward and the doctor leaned down to embrace her. Anna caught a whiff of the perfume that had been so popular in her home country and she buried her face in Elsa's chest, sobbing. She felt all at once deeply homesick and incredibly safe. She never wanted to let go.

All good things must come to an end, however, and Elsa eventually lowered Anna back down. Crystalline tears tracked from the doctor's blue eyes and Anna reached up to wipe them away. Elsa took her hand and held it against her cheek, smiling tenderly down at Anna.

"I'm so glad I met you," Elsa said. "I'm so glad you survived."

"Likewise," Anna choked out, almost in disbelief. Elsa lowered their joined hands and reluctantly broke contact.

"They are almost ready to take you into surgery," Elsa informed her as other technicians came into the room. "Don't worry, you're in good hands."

"W-when will I see you again?" Anna burst out worriedly just as Elsa began to turn away. The doctor smiled, a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

"I'll be there when you wake up," Elsa promised. Anna reached out desperately and Elsa took her hand again. She rubbed the back of it soothingly with her thumb as the nurses and other personnel started an IV in the other and began to medicate the injured athlete. Elsa could see Anna fighting to remain awake.

"Rest, Anna. It's going to be okay," she murmured, stroking through the girl's hair with her other hand. Within seconds, Anna lay asleep. Elsa stood and watched as the bed carrying her fellow ex-citizen was rolled out of the room.

Three hours later, Elsa found herself waiting at a bedside in the recovery room with flowers and the offer for Anna to live under the care of an in-house doctor in Germany for a few months. _Or longer, hopefully_ , Elsa thought to herself with a blush. She caressed Anna's face, trying to draw her back to consciousness. And though the girl was shivering and confused when she woke, recognition eventually dawned.

"Elsa?"

"Anna."


End file.
